Ezekiel 21 – Ezekiel 24

21 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. 3 Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. 5 All flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn my sword out of its sheath. It will not return any more.”’

6 “Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart[c] and with bitterness. 7 It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’”

8 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 9 “Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says:

“A sword! A sword!
It is sharpened,
and also polished.
10 It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter.
It is polished that it may be as lightning.
Should we then make mirth?
The rod of my son condemns every tree.
11 It is given to be polished,
that it may be handled.
The sword is sharpened.
Yes, it is polished
to give it into the hand of the killer.”’
12 Cry and wail, son of man;
for it is on my people.
It is on all the princes of Israel.
They are delivered over to the sword with my people.
Therefore beat your thigh.

13 “For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh.

14 “You therefore, son of man, prophesy,
and strike your hands together.
Let the sword be doubled the third time,
the sword of the fatally wounded.
It is the sword of the great one who is fatally wounded,
which enters into their rooms.
15 I have set the threatening sword against all their gates,
that their heart may melt,
and their stumblings be multiplied.
Ah! It is made as lightning.
It is pointed for slaughter.
16 Gather yourselves together.
Go to the right.
Set yourselves in array.
Go to the left,
wherever your face is set.
17 I will also strike my hands together,
and I will cause my wrath to rest.
I, Yahweh, have spoken it.”

18 Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, 19 “Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city. 20 You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows back and forth. He consulted the teraphim.[d] He looked in the liver. 22 In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, and to build forts. 23 It will be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken.

24 “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear; because you have come to memory, you will be taken with the hand.

25 “‘You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, 26 the Lord Yahweh says: “Remove the turban, and take off the crown. This will not be as it was. Exalt that which is low, and humble that which is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also will be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it.”’

28 “You, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach:

“A sword! A sword is drawn!
It is polished for the slaughter,
to cause it to devour,
that it may be as lightning;
29 while they see for you false visions,
while they divine lies to you,
to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded,
whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end.
30 Cause it to return into its sheath.
In the place where you were created,
in the land of your birth, I will judge you.
31 I will pour out my indignation on you.
I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath.
I will deliver you into the hand of brutish men,
skillful to destroy.
32 You will be for fuel to the fire.
Your blood will be in the middle of the land.
You will be remembered no more;
for I, Yahweh, have spoken it.”’”

22 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. 3 You shall say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! 4 You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

6 “‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 7 In you have they treated father and mother with contempt.[e] Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 9 Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. 10 In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. 11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.

13 “‘“Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been shed within you. 14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. 15 I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will purge your filthiness out of you. 16 You will be profaned in yourself in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”

17 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. 19 Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there and melt you. 21 Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the middle of it. 22 As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you will be melted in the middle of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’”

23 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, tell her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed nor rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within it. 26 Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. 28 Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,’ when Yahweh has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

30 “I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way on their heads,” says the Lord Yahweh.

23 Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. 3 They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there. 4 Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 “Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, 6 who were clothed with blue—governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whomever she lusted after. 8 She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples and they poured out their prostitution on her.

9 “Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians on whom she doted. 10 These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.

11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lusting than she, and in her prostitution which was more depraved than the prostitution of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers—her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 I saw that she was defiled. They both went the same way.

14 “She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with red, 15 dressed with belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like princes, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. 17 The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution. She was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. 18 So she uncovered her prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul was alienated from her, just like my soul was alienated from her sister. 19 Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21 Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the caressing of your nipples by the Egyptians because of your youthful breasts.

22 “Therefore, Oholibah, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you with buckler, shield, and helmet all around. I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments. 25 I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will take away your nose and your ears. Your remnant will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and the rest of you will be devoured by the fire. 26 They will also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 Thus I will make your lewdness to cease from you, and remove your prostitution from the land of Egypt, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.’

28 “For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated. 29 They will deal with you in hatred, and will take away all your labor, and will leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your prostitution will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution. 30 These things will be done to you because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols. 31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.’

32 “The Lord Yahweh says:

‘You will drink of your sister’s cup,
which is deep and large.
You will be ridiculed and held in derision.
It contains much.
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
with the cup of astonishment and desolation,
with the cup of your sister Samaria.
34 You will even drink it and drain it out.
You will gnaw the broken pieces of it,
and will tear your breasts;

for I have spoken it,’ says the Lord Yahweh.

35 “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.’”

36 Yahweh said moreover to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured. 38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, they have done this in the middle of my house.

40 “Furthermore you sisters have sent for men who come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, decorated yourself with ornaments, 41 and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.

42 “The voice of a multitude being at ease was with her. With men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, ‘Now they will play the prostitute with her, and she with them.’ 44 They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute. So they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 45 Righteous men will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

46 “For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘I will bring up a mob against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed. 47 The company will stone them with stones and dispatch them with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

48 “‘Thus I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to be lewd like you. 49 They will recompense your lewdness on you, and you will bear the sins of your idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’”

24 Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. 3 Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,

“Put the cauldron on the fire.
Put it on,
and also pour water into it.
4 Gather its pieces into it,
even every good piece:
the thigh and the shoulder.
Fill it with the choice bones.
5 Take the choice of the flock,
and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron.
Make it boil well.
Yes, let its bones be boiled within it.”

6 “‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says:

“Woe to the bloody city,
to the cauldron whose rust is in it,
and whose rust hasn’t gone out of it!
Take out of it piece after piece
without casting lots for it.

7 “‘“For the blood she shed is in the middle of her.
She set it on the bare rock.
She didn’t pour it on the ground,
to cover it with dust.
8 That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance,
I have set her blood on the bare rock,
that it should not be covered.”

9 “‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says:

“Woe to the bloody city!
I also will make the pile great.
10 Heap on the wood.
Make the fire hot.
Boil the meat well.
Make the broth thick,
and let the bones be burned.
11 Then set it empty on its coals,
that it may be hot,
and its bronze may burn,
and that its filthiness may be molten in it,
that its rust may be consumed.
12 She is weary with toil;
yet her great rust,
rust by fire, doesn’t leave her.

13 “‘“In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.

14 “‘“I, Yahweh, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

15 Also Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 16 “Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. 17 Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your headdress on you, and put your sandals on your feet. Don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat mourner’s bread.”

18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. So I did in the morning as I was commanded.

19 The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things mean to us, that you act like this?”

20 Then I said to them, “Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword. 22 You will do as I have done. You won’t cover your lips or eat mourner’s bread. 23 Your turbans will be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You won’t mourn or weep; but you will pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. 24 Thus Ezekiel will be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’”’”

25 “You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart—their sons and their daughters— 26 that in that day he who escapes will come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27 In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak and be no more mute. So you will be a sign to them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”